Virgil suppressed the urge to growl and frowned as he watched the fatherly figment hum a catchy tune as he cooked, a black mist surrounding him.

It was a seemingly normal morning, Logan sat at the table with a mug of steaming coffee in his hand and a book in the other. Roman sat beside him still yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and Virgil sat across from them keeping his eyes glued on Patton, glued on the ugly black mist clawing at him.

The others didn't take notice of it, but he did. He also noticed the changes in the bubbly male. And they were not good if they caused that thing to appear.

He noticed how his shirt loosely hung on his now frail shoulders, his cardigan slipping off them, his skin was ghostly pale, and Virgil took notice of the makeup beneath Patton's eyes. He was hiding it, hiding his exhaustion behind a genuinely convincing smile, brushing away the fatigue with a simple joke, forcing himself to keep going when he knew his body could no longer keep on going.

He was doing it for everyone.

For his kiddo that he swore to protect, love, and take care of. For Logan who would always forget to eat properly or would strain himself and stress himself out. For Roman who would always return from the imagination with wounds that would scare Patton half to death. And as a result of taking care of all of them, putting their needs before his, he had been neglecting his own well being, skipping meals so that the others would have a proper meal, losing sleep so that he could check up on them and make sure they're getting enough rest.

And who was there to watch over him? Who was there to make sure he ate properly, or got enough sleep?

Virgil bit his lip feeling a lump rise in his throat, his eyes teared up, and he balled his hands into tight fists. Patton returned with a lip straining smile and placed a plate in front of him displaying his favorite: heart shaped pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon on the side.

“You okay kiddo?” Patton asked taking notice of the torn look on the trait's face, the other two moved their gazes to face him their eyes widened as they saw the sight in front of them. Virgil sat there with large, fat tears trailing down his cheeks as he stared down at his plate, he sniffed and hastily wiped them away with the sleeve of his jacket. “M'fine.” He muttered and flinched when the dark entity wrapped itself around Patton's arm, trying to consume him.

Virgil didn't complain when the others didn't say anything about it, he was the only one who could see it. Him being a former 'dark side' he was able to see the bad things that took an ugly form. He saw them every once in a while within the mindscape, far back in the corner of Thomas's mind, crawling down the walls of each and every trait's room whenever Thomas had a very very bad day, and sometimes in the mirror.

Virgil saw the ugliness inside of him, the darkness that clung to him like the skin on his back, the dullness in his dark eyes, the shadows beneath them. He was the embodiment of all the bad things, but Patton made him see through that, Patton made him see the good he had. The good he could still bring. Patton gently took hold of his hand that was still balled up tight, his knuckles white, shaking Virgil from his stupor. “You doing alright kiddo? Anything bothering you?” Patton asked once more, concern lacing his gentle and loving voice.

Virgil shivered and looked down at his arm, the dark thing that now looked like vines crawled up Patton's arm and to his shoulder reaching all the way up to his throat and the trait visibly deteriorated, the shine in his eyes vanished, his frail shoulders slumped, he was both mentally and physically exhausted. “I should be asking you that.” Virgil replied and tried ignoring the corruption eating away at the trait.

He had to stop it, and he had to do it quick.

Patton's smile slightly faltered allowing his facade to drop, his mask no longer in place. And for those few seconds Virgil was able to see the Patton behind the forced smile, the Patton who was tired, the Patton who needed more than just a couple of hours of sleep, the Patton who needed to be saved. Virgil needed to save him before he destroyed himself any further. “I'm doing just fine kiddo!” Once again Patton pulled on his signature smile and patted the darker trait's shoulder, letting go of his hand in the process, which only upset him more.

“Stop lying!” Virgil snapped out, his teeth gritted, his hands trembling. A long moment of silence dragged on, Roman and Logan jumped from their seats ready to go to him if he needed someone to calm him down. Eventually Virgil calmed his tense position and slumped in his seat. “Please...„ He whispered. “Patton you gotta take care of yourself. What you're doing isn't good, I can see it Patton, the corruption trying to consume you, trying to take over and destroy you.” His voice wavered.

“I'm not going to let that happen, so please let me at least help you.” Patton took a cautious step back, the corrupt only growing bigger, Logan glanced at Roman both sharing looks of concern. “Pat, don't...” Virgil paused and took a shaky breath knowing that he would regret using his words against Patton that would surely hurt him, but he needed him to be okay. He just really needed him. “Please, don't leave me.” He whimpered.

Something broke in Patton's eyes then, a look of pain and terror flashed through his features and the corruption suddenly pulled itself away from his skin retreating to where they once came from, in the dark shadows of the mind. Patton's bottom lip trembled, and before Virgil knew it a pair of thin arms were wrapped around him, and a wet face was pressed against his shoulder, tears soaking his jacket.

Patton sobbed and blubbered many apologies while Virgil sighed in relief and returned the much needed hug, for Patton's sake of course, but he couldn't lie to himself. He knew that with Patton gone he would also be gone, no one else was able to make him smile the way Patton did. No one else was able to show Virgil just how important he was and that he was loved by many, and he showed him how to love himself. It was hard at first, having to accept himself when he really, really, hated himself.

But Patton had managed to do just that, Virgil thought he was a miracle, something in Thomas's mind that was not supposed to be there. “It's okay Pat...” Virgil murmured and ran his fingers through his hair. Now it was his turn to take care of Patton, to return the favor, to give him his thanks and repay him for everything he had done to make him happy.

Patton sniffed and squeezed Virgil tight with whatever energy he had left. “I should be the one apologizing.” His voice was low and hoarse. “Now's not the time for that, right now you need sleep and a proper meal.” Virgil stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “Which do you want to do first?” He asked soon realizing that Logan and Roman had disappeared, probably to give the pair some privacy, which he didn't at all mind.

“I can barely stand on my two legs.” Patton joked and leaned on Virgil for support. Eventually the two managed to walk up the stairs and made it to Virgil's room, there Patton plopped himself onto Virgil's bed and curled into a tight ball. Virgil crawled in and lied down beside him, Patton looked up at him with tired eyes and wrapped his arms around him, Virgil doing the same, and they just lied there, foreheads touching.

Patton soon felt drowsy enough to fall asleep and he pressed himself closer to his dark strange son. “Hey Pat?” Virgil whispered to him. “Yes kiddo?” Patton yawned and tried to keep his eyes open. “I-I love you.” Virgil stuttered feeling his face grow hot. Patton giggled and rested his head against his shoulder. “I love you too.” He replied in a tired slur before drifting off to sleep.

Virgil chuckled and hugged him as he slept, he let his eyes slide close, only for a couple of minutes, and then he senses it. The hairs on the back of his neck stand, his blood going cold, his heart pounding hard against his chest as if trying to break free of its cage that surrounds it.

His eyes flew open in both alarm and fear, and he sees it, on the other side of his room, coming from the darkest corner, the corruption emerges. Instinctively Virgil holds Patton tighter, closer, and he doesn't care if he ends up getting hurt because to him the only thing that mattered was Patton's safety.

And so he held his breath and braced himself as the corruption creeped towards the bed.